Welcome Back to Gravity Falls
by Elypsus
Summary: Four years have past since Dipper and Mabel left Gravity Falls. A lot has changed, including them. After years of trying to return, they finally make it back to the town they love for another Summer of fun.
1. What Time Is It? Summer Time!

**Adventure Time reference in my first Gravity Falls story, yay for me. I've done a few stories for another fandom, but this is my first one for Gravity Falls, and I'm pretty excited for it. I'm not exactly sure how the rating for this website goes, so just to be safe, it's rated M.** **Diaclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls or anything else other than the the story itself.** **Now without further ado, I present to you the culmination of all the worst things you've ever feared for a Gravity Falls Fanfic.**

Three summers. Three whole summers without a visit to Gravity Falls from the town's favorite twins. Nobody was especially happy about that fact, least of all Dipper and Mabel Pines, the aforementioned twins.

Of course, they had they're reasons. The first Summer, Dipper was busy with his first AP course's Summer homework, and Mabel was busy with a bit of Summer school. The second Summer, their parents kept them from going so they could start on their high school mandatory community service. Then, this past summer, they stayed home to practice driving so they could get their licenses.

But finally, Dipper and Mabel were on their way back to their favorite place, Gravity Falls, Oregon.

"I can't believe we're finally on our way back! I'm so excited," shouted Mabel over the loud stereo as she drove down the long stretch of pavement. Even if it wasn't for the obnoxiously loud music blaring through the car, her twin wouldn't have heard her. He was too busy playing his own kind of music in his earbuds. Right now he was listening to Good Times by Pianos Become The Teeth.

Ever since halfway through his Sophomore year, he had gotten into different music. Not that he didn't like the old stuff he listened to, he just preferred to listen to more Indie bands.

As the song switched, for those few seconds when nothing was playing, Dipper eardrums were subjected to some nameless boyband song that Mabel seemed to enjoy beyond any reason. As he was waiting for the next song, Dipper saw something that made him sit up in his seat.

 _ **Welcome to Gravity Falls**_ As soon as Dipper saw the sign, he tore out his headphones and turned down the car stereo to 0.

"Hey, I was listening to that," was Mabel's response, which now that she was speaking at a normal volume, or normal for her, one could hear the more feminine quality to her voice.

"Yeah, whatever," started Dipper, in a noticeably deeper voice, "but check out the sign." As he said this, he pointed at the rapidly approaching sign.

"Woah, bro, we're finally back. What's it been, three, four years," asked Mabel.

"Something like that. I wonder if anyone's moved away," wonderes Dipper out loud.

"You worried that Wendy moves away? Aww, does the Little Dipper still have a crush on Wendy," joked Mabel

"Oh wow, a constellation joke, you've never made one of those before," retorted Dipper. "But no, I got over her years ago. I was actually hoping Gideon or Tobey Determined moved away."

"Ah, you know what, good thinking bro-bro," replied Mabel.

As their conversation came to an end, so did their car ride. Just as Mabel finished speaking, she had parked the car and jumped out of it as if a bee was chasing her, not even bothering to turn it off. She made a direct B-line for the Mystery Shack, who's S was still missing.

On the otherhand, as excited about seeing everyone as he was, Dipper realized the importance of shutting off cars and bringing in luggage. So once the keys were jingling in his pants, Dipper walked around to the trunk and started unloading the trunk. In total, there were six suitcases, two of which were his. Before he could even fathom of how to carry all of it, he heard a voice.

"Hey dude, let me help you out with that."

Without even turning around, Dipper knew who was there. "Soos!"

Once he had turned around, Dipper and Soos had a very quick, very manly embrace, at least that's what Dipper would call it.

Once the pleasantries were done with, they each grabbed two bags, stating they'd come back for the remaining two, and started walking back to the house, catching up all the while.

"Wow, so you added onto the house? That's impressive, even for the best handyman I know," stated Dipper.

"Ah, well, it was nothing, dude. I had help, too. Wendy supplied the wood, and Ford came by to do the electricity. I just did the dry wall and the paneling," replied the bashful man.

"Well I still think it's pretty impressive. But since you have three spare rooms now, I was wondering if Mabel and I could have separate rooms now," asked Dipper

"What? Really, dude? I thought you two would want to stay together after what happened last time, but sure, it's no problem. Just pick which one you want," came Soos's response.

"Well we were 12, now we're 16. Okay, thanks, man. Since I have my two bags, I'll take them up to the attic and meet you back down here for the other two bags," planned out Dipper.

"Nah dude, you go ahead and unpack, I got the other two bags," argued Soos.

"Well alright, dude. Thanks."

With that, Dipper went upstairs to the attic while Soos took Mabel's bags to see which room she wanted.

Once Dipper made it to the attic, he gently set both his bags down. He first shut the door and locked it, then he went back and opened the bag he knew would have his clothes within. Most of the clothes in the suitcase resembled his current attire. There were ripped jeans, band shirts, flannels, socks, and boxers. Other than that, he took out swimming trunks, jean shorts, basketball shorts, and other plain t-shirts.

He stuck all of his clothes in the dresser, designated by what article of clothing it was.

Once that suitcase was unpacked, he stuffed it under his bed and turned to the next one. Dipper unzipped it and revealed the contents. There was a bunch of stuff in it, but in the corner, there was a white bundle. Taking that out first, Dipper carried it to the foot of his bed, took out the loose floorboard where he hid Journal 3 during his first summer there, put the bundle in there, then replaced the board. Before returning to unpacking, Dippee unlocked the door, then went back to his case. In a matter of minutes, Dipper was done unpacking.

Once Dipper was done with that, he went back down stairs to talk to everyone.

Dipper and Mabel had been back for less than a day, and already they could tell things were different. Mabel had almoat bolted out the door in search of Candy and Grenda once the initial euphoria of being back had worn off. Though Soos did tell her about the party the Mystery Shack would be hosting that night at 9:00 in celebration of the return of the so-called Heroes of Gravity Falls. The entire town was invited, of course. This party was where they realized things were different.

First was that Candy always seemed sad, and Grenda wasn't even in town anymore. These were more of differences for Mabel than they were for Dipper. Apparently, Marius, Grenda's boyfriend, had knocked her up, and to get away from her parents, Grenda ran away to Austria. Losing her only friend made Candy sad. This sadness bled into her piano practice, making her lose focus. This made her parents angry with her, hence why she's sad.

The second was that Thompson came out as a homosexual. Of course, his friends didn't really care, they just carried on as usual, though there were a few townspeople that would make snide comments about him.

Those were probably the two most important changes of the town, seeing as not a lot happened when the twins were gone. During the party, the majority of people crowded around Mabel, asking her about her life since leaving Gravity Falls. She was all smiles and enjoyed telling them all about her braces being removed, joining the cheer squad, and even about her one stint at summer school.

On the otherhand, only Wendy's gang really hung out with Dipper, as he hung out in the corner. This is where he found out about Thompson.

Around 12 in the morning was when people started leaving. By 1, almost everyone was gone. The only people left were the residents, Candy, who was in Mabel's room talking with her, Robbie and Tambry, who were still making out on the couch, and Wendy, who was on the roof with Dipper, talking about their lives for the past four years.

"Wait, so let me get this straight, you walked in on Mabel making out with someone on your bed when you don't even share the same room anymore," asked Wendy.

"Yeah, apparently she thought I got back from my camping trip the next day," explained Dipper.

"Wow. That'd be pretty insane. So who'd you go camping with," inquired Wendy.

"No one, I just went by myself," came Dipper's response.

"Really? You weren't looking for monsters in Piedmont, were you," joked Wendy.

"Nah, of course not. I just didn't like being cooped up inside all spring break," explained Dipper. "So I got a question."

"Shoot," came Wendy's response.

"Is your laidback behavior natural, or do you obtain it through special means?"

 **So that's the first chapter of story. I'm not sure how long it will be before I update it. As usual, I have no distinct plan for it, just little details here and there.** **And regarding Thompson, I was not dling that to offend anyome on this site. I actually did it to represent the fact that although those closest to you may accept you, there will always be peopls who hate you for some stupid reason, regardless of the person you are.** **Now to anyone who can guess what is in the bundle Dipper had, I will give you a shout out. Granted, that won't do much seeing as people will probably give up on this story halfway through, but it's the thought that counts, right?** **Until next time.**


	2. Hawktopus

**Hello everyone, I'm back. it's been a while.**

 **College doesn't give you much time for Fanfic writing. Plus, it doesn't help that I pretty much forgot about this story. I hope I'm the only one that did. I wrote part of this chapter before I went to college, but I never finished it.**

 **To Caleb Nova, it's great that you're a Pianos fan. Also, when Dipper got into high school, in this story that is, he met some guys that got him into different music. Also other things, which may or may not reveal themselves this chapter.**

 **To Insurgent Warden, I'm not sure what the pairing will be yet. There might not be one, there might be a few, who knows? I'll work on the description and speed, too.**

It had been a week since Dipper and Mabel had returned to Gravity Falls. In that time, they hadn't gone on a single adventure. Mabel spent this time between hanging out with Candy, and hanging out with Nate. Apparently they had gotten along pretty nicely at the party.

Dipper on the other hand had spent quite a bit of time in Ford's study, after asking of course, and had been catching up on the oddities in Gravity Falls. In the few hours he was out of the basement, he spent time with Wendy and, when she wasn't with Nate or Candy, Mabel.

Currently, Dipper was playing Battleship with Mabel in her room, though she still didn't know how to play. Though her 'art' did evolve from kittens to puppies.

"A5," asked Dipper, knowing that he would somehow miss yet again, despite having been playing for the past hour.

"Miss," Mabel rang out, putting the finishing touches on her fifth dog, taking a picture, then taking it all down again.

"Of course it is. Well as fun as this is, I'm going to go... do something else," said Dipper as he got up and started walking toward the door.

"Okay bro-bro," chirped Mabel.

As Dipper made his trip downstairs, he came across a pair of legs sticking out from under the sink.

"Hey Soos, what'cha doing down there," asked Dipper.

"Oh, hiya, dude. Well, the sink is broke, so I'm breaking out the old handyman skills," came Soos's response.

"Well do you need any help? I'm sure I can hold a flashlight or something for you," offered Dipper.

"Thanks, dude, but I actually got this covered," said Soos.

"Oh, okay. Well if you need help, don't hesitate to ask," replied Dipper as he walked off into the giftshop.

"Hey Dip, you headed somewhere," asked Wendy.

"Just going to go see if I can find anything in the woods. I can't believe we've been here for a week and I haven't stepped foot in there yet," explained Dipper.

"I know. I figured you would have been out there the entire time. But that't what you get for being cooped up in 's lab," replied Wendy.

"True. Well I'm headed out. I'll see you later," waved Dipper.

"Hey," Wendy called out, stopping Dipper in his tracks. "My break starts in about a minute, why don't I go with you?"

"O-oh, um uh, s-sure," Dipper stuttered out, turning faintly red. Despite getting over his crush, Dipper still wasn't comfortable around girls, let alone ones he previously had crushes on.

"Sweet. I've been dying to get out of here. It seems to be a pretty slow day," spoke Wendy as she hopped over the counter.

"Yeah, it does seem to be pretty slow,"stated Dipper. "but actually, I gotta go get my adventuring gear, I'll be down in a minute."

"Got everything," asked Wendy when she saw him descending the staircase after a few minutes.

"Yep, let's go," Replied Dipper

With those words, they began their trek into the woods.

As they walked, they held a steady conversation, talking about whatever came to mind.

"Speaking of music, did you know the lead singer of this one band tripped on acid, and began to believe that he was the reincarnation of Anne Frank's boyfriend," asked Dipper.

"Seriously," asked Wendy. "That's insane."

"I know. He even wrote an entire album about it. It's not half bad," replied Dipper.

Before either of them could say anything else, Wendy tripped on a branch and started rolling down a hill. As soon as Dipper realized what was going on, he raced after her.

It wasn't until after she reached the bottom that Dipper had managed to catch up to Wendy.

"Woah Wendy, are you alright," asked Dipper.

"Oh yeah, just peachy. So good, in fact, that I think I twisted my ankle," retorted Wendy.

"Damn. Looks like we're going to have to postpone this monster hunt," stated Dipper.

"No, Dipper. I'm fine. We can continue," pleaded Wendy.

"No, we need to get you off of that ankle. Come on, let me help you up," as Dipper said this, he picked her up and put her arm over his shoulder. They then began the walk back to the shack.

 **?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?**

As Dipper carried Wendy out of the forest and onto the lawn of the Mystery Shack, Mabel looked through the window, and saw the two. At first, she thought they were doing that because something happened in the woods, but, as they got closer, she noticed Wendy limping, and the scrapes on her faces.

Once Mabel noticed these things, she ran out of the gift shop over to the two hobbling teens and took Wendy's other arm.

Mabel then blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "What happened?"

"We were walking through the woods, when Wendy tripped on a branch and fell down a hill," replied Dipper as they made it into the gift shop.

"We need to clean those scrapes and get them wrapped up" stated Mabel after they had sat Wendy on the counter. "I'll go get the first aid kit." She then ran off to find it in the main house.

"Well that may have been the shortest monster hunt I've ever been on. Even the mystery of the man who was always looking to the right was longer than this," recalled Dipper.

"Sorry about that. I kind of ruined our hunt" apologized Wendy.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't even your fault."

"Alright I guess, but once my scrapes are dressed, we can go back and continue our hunt."

"Of course not. You were limping pretty bad. You need to stay off your leg for the day, which means not adventures."

"Damn, are you still going out?"

"Of course, I want to study the Hawktopus. I saw during my first summer here that Grunkle Ford had discovered it, but found it 'Too stupid to study' so I want to see what I can find out about it and record it in the journal I made last time I was here."

"Oh, well I'm sorry I can't help with your studying." Before Dipper could respond, Mabel came bounding back into the gift shop with the first aid kit.

"Alright Wendy, Mabel Pines PhD is at your service. Be prepared to be healed" Mabel shouted while opening the kit.

"Looks like you're in great hands, Wendy. I'll leave you to your healing" said Dipper as he began walking out the door.

"See ya later Dip" Said Mabel as she began cleaning Wendy's wounds.

?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?

As Dipper trekked through the woods of Gravity Falls, Oregon, he took in the scent of the crisp, piney smell, reveling in it's odor. Dipper walked for close to an hour before he finally found the clearing his Grunkle had described to him. It was fairly small in size, but it was beautiful. The tall grass stood at Dipper's knees, tickling him slightly. There were countless Lavenders and Sunflowers dotting the grass. The mix of purple and yellow in the sea of green was breathtaking alone, but with the morning sun just rising above the trees and hitting the field gave everything a gilded touch.

As much as Dipper wanted to sit down and sketch the beauty of the landscape before him, he knew he couldn't. Not only did he have to study the Hawktopus, but he also knew he wouldn't be able to capture the scene in it's entirety. Therefore, he just withdrew his digital camera from his pack and after about a minute of trying to get the perfect picture, he snapped the image. After placing the camera back in his bag, Dipper began looking for the path to the pond of the Hawktopi. It didn't take more than a minute to discover the part in the trees little more than 10 feet away from him. Once he found it, he began his trip down the slight incline the path held.

It didn't take very long to find the small pond that housed the Hawktopi, though it did take about five minutes to actually find the strange birds. They were nestled in a hole that let some water to allow the eggs that were in the nest to soak. Dipper soon began drawing the creatures, after which he would conduct multiple tests.


	3. Sea Foam or Lake Foam?

Dipper raced into the underground lab that his Grunkle ford was always doing different experiments and studying new anomalies in.

"Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Ford, you'll never guess what I discovered about the Hawktopi," Dipper said excitedly as soon as the elevator door was open.

"Calm down, Dipper. What happened," asked Ford

"Well you know how you wrote about the Hawktopus in the journal but you never actually studied it? Well I just got back from doing research on it," stated Dipper.

"Well what'd you find," asked Ford.

"Well first off, with it being part hawk and part octopus, it's quite obviously an aero-aquatic animal, but that means, it's the only aero-aquatic animal that's been discovered. Sure, there are fungi, but no actual animals that have the potential to live in both air and water. Just like with normal octopi, there are gills in the Hawktopus' mouth, which allows for breathing underwater, but due to it flying and being out of water for an extended about of time, my conclusions lead me to believe it has lungs like hawks do. Now hawks and octopi obviously can't breed, but I think I know how this species came to be. There is a group of fungi called Hyphomycetes that are aero-aquatic. Now I haven't discovered which exact genus of Hyphomycetes resulted in the cross-bred animal, but my hypothesis is that a Hyphomycete came into contact with a member of each species and while it was with the hawk, it came to Gravity Falls. With the abundance of weirdness here, it morphed into the Hawktopus," finished Dipper.

"That's quite astute, Dipper. This was excellent research that you've done. But make sure you aren't completely believing in this theory. I'm not trying to discourage you, but every hypothesis isn't correct," stated Ford.

"I know, Grunkle Ford. I'm prepared for this discovery to be inaccurate, but I thought I would share my findings with you. I just wanted to let you know what my research led me to believe in terms of it's evolution. But, that's not all I found," explained Dipper."

"Then by all means, my boy, continue," Ford prodded. And Dipper did just that. He spoke for almost an hour on what he found out about the Hawktopus. from the toxin in their tentacles that could withdraw certain chemicals from other liquids to how it ate with the tentacles in front of it's beak, and even what it ate.

Another day had passed since Dipper's scientific discoveries of the Hawktopus. Ever since, he's been spending even more time with Ford than he had been before. They went over his research, as Dipper had recorded everything he discovered in his own journal. They even went back out to the nest of the Hawktopi so Ford could get a more in-depth view of the Hawktopi in case Dipper missed anything that could be useful.

While her brother was doing his research, Mabel was hanging out with Candy, trying to cheer her up. With her other best friend back, Candy was a lot more cheerful.

"Alright, Candy, we have a dilemma. We're one girl short of our prime female power. We need a new friend," stated Mabel.

"You want to replace Grenda? How could you," shouted Candy in an aghast voice.

"NO. I do not want to replace Grenda, I love her, but we need to look at this in a sensible way. Say we're playing a game. There's the ref, and since there are only two of us, there will only be one player. We need a third to balance it out," explained Mabel.

"I, I guess you're right. I just miss Grenda," replied Candy.

"I know. So do I. But we need someone to balance us out. Do you have any ideas," consoled Mabel.

"There aren't many teenage girls in Gravity Falls. What about Wendy," pondered Candy.

"Woah, I guess great minds really do think alike, because that was my first choice as well." Mabel started out happy, but then continued in a down voice. "But sadly, she has to work so much that she wouldn't really have time for us."

"Damn, there goes Plan A," stated Candy.

"Then it's time for Plan B," Mabel shouted as she stood up and pointed at a lone figure walking toward them.

"Are you serious, Mabel? You know who that is, right," asked Candy.

"Of course I do. How could I forget that hair? That color? I mean, it's no seafoam green, but it's a nice color," stated Mabel.

"Have you heard anything about her since you've been back? Or even while you were gone," asked Candy.

"Well besides hearing she lost her house and about a quarter of her money, no," answered Mabel.

"Well things have gotten a lot worse for her. After losing part of their fortune, her father went into stocks to get it back. He didn't make many good choices. They went from missing a quarter of their former wealth to only retaining a tenth of it," explained Candy.

"Wow. So much has happened to her. Let's go talk to her," Said Mabel, leaving before Candy could say anything. Once Mabel had reached the person she was going to, she began talking to her. "Hey Pacifica, long time no see."

"Uhh, do I know you," asked Pacifica.

"Of course you do. I've saved your life, like, twice," explained Mabel.

"That doesn't necessarily narrow it down," replied Pacifica.

"It's me, wait seriously," asked Mabel. With a head nod, Mabel continued. "Oh, well it's me, Mabel Pines, you know, from the whole end of the world thing a few years ago."

"Mabel? What are you doing here? And aren't you usually attached to a nerd," Pacifica pointed out.

"Oh, Dipper? He's busy doing smarty stuff back at the Mystery Shack," explained Mabel.

"Yeah, whatever. Are you done bothering me," asked Pacifica.

"Not yet. We were wondering if you wanted to hang out with us," stated Mabel, unfazed by Pacifca's rudeness.

"Why would I want to do that," asked Pacifica.

"Well are you doing anything right now," retorted Mabel.

"Y-" started Pacifica, but she trailed off when she realized actually wasn't doing anything.

"Yeah! Let's go," Shouted Mabel as she dragged the reluctant blonde behind her.

 **?¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?**

It only took 3 hours before Pacifica realized she was actually having fun with Mabel and Candy. Mabel had just told a really bad joke about blondes, which caused them all to start laughing after realizing Pacifica was a blonde. Pacifica didn't take offense to it, her confidence was as high as ever. The joke was told in Mabel's new room, which was the newest addition to the house. It was pretty basic in design. It was a rectangle, with the long sides being about 10 feet and the short sides about 7 feet. The door was on a shorter side, and when you entered, the bed was in the far right corner and was placed horizontally against the far wall. The wall to the right had to dressers placed in the middle of the wall, separated by a couch with a coffee table in front of it and a tv opposite of it. The remainder of the floor space was fairly empty, but the walls were covered in Mabel's posters. Ranging from her trusty Sev'ral Timez poster to newer ones with animals on them or new bands she likes. There was even a poster of the Mystery Shack on her wall.

"Okay, well, it's time for secret telling," stated Mabel.

"Oooooo," added Candy for dramatic effect.

"What? No. That's dumb. We're not little kids anymore," Pacifica said.

"That doesn't matter. Secret telling is more about bonding than learning secrets," stated Mabel.

"I still think I'll pass. It's getting late anyways, I think it's time I leave," Pacifica said.

"What? You can't. The fun's just begun," pleaded Mabel.

"Sorry, but I have to," said Pacifica, not sounding sorry at all.

"Can I at least get your number? We finally bonded and we need to hang out again," asked Mabel.

"Ugh, fine. Here." After she wrote down her number on a piece of paper, Pacifica said her final goodbyes and left. When she got downstairs, she went through the Gift Shop portion, but right as Pacifica was about to leave, she heard a bunch of noise coming from a vending machine. Curiosity got the better of her, and she began walking up to it. Before she could get even halfway across the shop, the machine came off of the wall and Dipper walked through it. She was so surprised, she didn't make any comments.

"Ugh, do I know you," asked Dipper once he noticed he was being stared at.

"Oh, sorry, my bad," stated Pacifica, kind of ashamed. She then continued "Yeah, it's me Pacifica."

"Oh yeah. What are you doing here," asked Dipper.

"Mabel brought me here when we were hanging out," explained Pacifica

"Oh. Since when have you two been friends? She's never said anything about you two talking," stated Dipper

"We're not friends, she pointed out I had nothing to do today, so I tagged along with her and Candy, that's it," denied Pacifica.

"Sure, what ever you say. Well I have some things to do, so I'm leaving," Dipper sad as he started walking past her towards the door.

"What? No, I'm leaving," argued Pacifica as she turned around and began all but running towards the exit.

"We can both leave, it's not one or the other," Pointed out Dipper.

"Oh yeah, I guess I'm just use to arguing with you from when we were 12," confessed Pacifica. She then continued, "why are you leaving anyways? it's getting late."

"It's only like 3, it's not late," Dipper defended.

"No, it's actually almost 8," retorted Pacifica.

"What!? Have I really been down there for nearly 18 hours? Dang," Dipper wondered aloud.

"What were you even doing behind a vending machine," asked Pacifica.

"Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't know what's back there. Well to answer your question, I was talking to my Grunkle Ford about some discoveries I found regarding the Hawktopus. He had some major insights once we got back from watching them again yesterday," explained Dipper.

"Again?"

"Yeah, I went to their nest by myself yesterday morning to learn more about them, then when I reported my research on them back to my Grunkle, he wanted to inspect them himself to check to see if I missed anything. There were a few things I missed, such as despite being part bird, they're only source of food is fish."

"Oh, well that's... interesting."

"Oh, sorry to bore you with the details." I'll leave you to get back to where you were headed. Since it's so late, I'll just go back to my room." With that, Dipper left Pacifica in front of the door of the Mystery Shack Gift Shop.


End file.
